Carlos Lopes and Maarten van der Heijden to Be Promoted as 5* Judges

Dressage

FEI

Carlos Lopes (POR) and Maarten van der Heijden (NED) will be the two judges to be promoted to FEI 5* status (Level 4), making them eligible to judge at World and European Championships as well as Olympic Games.

In September 2023 three judges were proposed by the Judging Supervisory Panel (Hunt, Eisenhardt, Seefried, Fore, Gardner, Zang and Van Bergen, ) as prospective 5* judges.

At the start of July it was announced that only two passed and will be promoted to the highest level

Requirements

The requirement to be proposed as a 5* judge include proficiency in English; having been FEI Level 3 Judge for a minimum of 3 years, be in good standing with the FEI, having officiating experience within 10 years of application, and having officiated at 30 competitions at Grand Prix Level, CDIs 4* or above six CDIs 3* as President of the Ground Jury or Foreign Judge, and two Championships at different levels (World Cup Finals, Young Horse World Breeding Championships, U25 Continental CH, Youth Continental CHs).

The three candidates had to pass the Level 4 Judges blended learning programme, i.e. the online Level 4 Judges examination and an in-person course of three days for those who passed the online examination.

In addition an online interview took place with a commission of five people including the FEI dressage director (Ronan Murphy), the FEI Education director (Frank Spadinger), a course director for Dressage (Gotthilf Riexinger), show jumping (Stephan Ellenbruch) and eventing (David O‘Connor). The recent candidates did this online interview on 18 June 2024.

If an examination is not passed, the Official is given the opportunity of a re-attempt after one year. "The objective of this interactive course is to enhance the participants' communication and interpersonal skills," the FEI Education System Dressage reads.

Van der Heijden and Lopes Pass

Carlos Lopes at the 2021 European Championships

Judges Maarten van der Heijden and Carlos Lopes passed that case studies examination and interview and will have to fo one final communication course at the FEI headquarters in Lausanne in October before officially being promoted to 5*/Level 4.

Dutch judge Van der Heijden was top sport director at the Dutch Equestrian Federation for 12 years until 2020. He has been an FEI judge since 2012. Van der Heijden is the fourth Dutch judge with 5* status. Mariette Sanders-van Gansewinkel, Eddy de Wolf van Westerrode and Francis Verbeek preceded him.

"I'm thrilled with this promotion and consider it valuable to contribute to top dressage in this role," said Maarten.

Carlos Lopes is the first Portuguese judge to ever make it to 5* status for dressage. He already is the highest level judge for Para dressage.

"it's great news for us all," Lopes told Equitacao. "Above all it is a recognition of my work that developed throughout the years."